A rare day off.
A rare, perfectly sunny day.
Gotō Doku had a heavy guitar case slung over both shoulders. He was still wearing that same eternally unchanging pink tracksuit—like Naruto Uzumaki with ten identical sets stuffed in his closet—and stood alone on the streets of Ochanomizu.
He lifted his head, his gaze slipping past his thick bangs to the clear sky in the distance.
The intense sunlight made him—an inherently damp, gloomy creature—feel a bit uncomfortable. He squinted, trying to shield that dazzling star with his hand, and asked himself in his heart:
Why am I here?
If it's a day off, shouldn't I be lying in bed under a blanket, scrolling my phone all day?
Sighing in relief that I can finally relax, while simultaneously wailing about not wanting to go to work tomorrow—using the day to properly wash away a week's worth of exhaustion?
So why am I standing here with a guitar case on my back?
It feels…
So conspicuous.
On this street, it looks like I'm the only one carrying a guitar… Everyone's staring at me…
S-Should I have dressed more simply before coming out…?
Going out in a tracksuit that only little kids would wear is probably not really appropriate, right…? And now I'm carrying a guitar too—it doesn't match at all…
I don't even have to think about it.
They definitely think I'm a weirdo…
The aura around Gotō Doku grew heavier and heavier.
I want to go home…
If I were with Bocchi, she definitely wouldn't think I'm weird…
Just as his consciousness was about to exile itself to the edge of the universe, he suddenly heard a familiar voice reach his ears—
Like a thin ray of dawn splitting through storm clouds after a downpour, shining straight into Gotō Doku's pitch-black inner world.
"Gotō-saaan—!"
Gotō Doku slowly looked forward.
A bright, lovely girl weaved through the crowd. From across the street, she waved as she jogged over to him.
Like a movie heroine—appearing for a single moment and instantly claiming the center of the frame, impossible to look away from after just one glance.
Dazzling. Clear and beautiful.
That was the kind of person she was.
"Ah… Kita-san… um, good morning…" Gotō Doku's brain finally rebooted its disconnected data.
He remembered why he'd come out today.
He remembered why he was standing here.
Today was the day he'd agreed to go buy a guitar with Kita-san.
And also the day of his very first guitar lesson—the day he officially became a guitar teacher.
That was why he'd crawled out of his rented room under the blazing sun, guitar case on his back, and stood here.
"Good morning, Gotō-san! We meet again!" Kita looked extremely cheerful. "Did I make you wait a long time?"
Gotō Doku hurriedly shook his head. "N-No… I only just got here…"
That was a lie.
He'd been standing here for almost half an hour.
But it wasn't because Kita was late.
On the contrary, he'd been afraid something might go wrong on the way, so he'd gotten up early from his floor bedding and left before Gotō Hitori had even woken up—meaning he'd arrived a whole hour before their scheduled time.
Kita blinked lightly.
Of course she knew Gotō Doku was lying, but she had no intention of calling him out.
To her, the earlier someone arrived, the more it meant they valued the meeting.
She'd deliberately come thirty minutes early today because she wanted to see Gotō Doku as soon as possible. And if Gotō Doku had arrived even earlier than that…
Did that mean Gotō-san also really cares about meeting today?
Warm sweetness bloomed in Kita's chest. Her smile grew even brighter than before, and she pulled two bags of crepes from her purse.
"I see… that's great, then. By the way, Gotō-san, you probably haven't eaten breakfast yet, right? Here—have one."
"This shop's crepes are really delicious. I've wanted you to try them for ages, Gotō-san! Now I finally get the chance—!"
Before Gotō Doku could even respond, the crepe had already been pushed into his hands.
He looked into Kita's pretty eyes—somehow even more lively than usual—and felt countless beams of "Kita light" whoosh straight into his face, harsher, stronger, more overpowering than ever… brighter than the sun itself…!
With a lifestyle schedule as nocturnal as a vampire's, how could Gotō Doku possibly endure such torment?
He hurriedly raised both hands to block those hateful rays eroding his dark little cells, but it barely helped.
In the end, he could only wave the white flag.
"…U-Um… Kita-san… I'll eat it with respect, so… please… the light…"
Unfortunately, by the end, he couldn't even get his voice out.
His HP bar had been completely wiped by the Kita Beam, and once again he became the loser in battle.
If he didn't have the essential salaryman passive skill Battle Continuation barely propping up his body, he would've already collapsed—cosplaying Orga on the spot.
But of course.
How could a shut-in, socially anxious hermit ever defeat a battle-hardened, experienced extrovert?
Defeat was inevitable from the start. Even with Battle Continuation, it was only a dying struggle.
Sorry… Bocchi…
I guess I'm… done for…
There's ice cream in the fridge… the one I bought…
Y-You have to remember…
To eat it…
With the last bit of strength he had, Gotō Doku finished leaving his final words in his heart—then his vision went black, his consciousness gradually fading.
Under the sunrise sky, a lonely soul drifted off into the distance.
"Eh? Gotō-san? Gotō-san? G-Gotō-saaan—!!!"
…
…
…
"Gotō-san… I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were that scared of being outside… The crowds and the noisy traffic must make you so nervous, right? I'm the one who caused you to have low blood sugar and faint… I'm really, really sorry…"
Gotō Doku opened his eyes again.
He saw Kita looking down at him with obvious worry, murmuring softly—words he couldn't quite make out.
For some reason, Kita took up most of his field of vision, and she was positioned above him.
He blinked blankly, trying to confirm where he was, then turned his head slightly to the side—seeing small wrinkles in Kita's clothes, even in her skirt.
He turned his head the other way.
A bench in the park—placed horizontally, and somehow at the same level as him.
Gotō Doku turned his head back to where it started.
A breeze swept by, lifting his heavy bangs.
With the hair no longer hiding his view, he finally saw Kita's face full of concern—and the sky above, still cloudless, though mostly blocked by thick trees.
At the same time…
He finally felt the gentle stroking on the top of his head—soft as a mother's touch—and the unbelievably tender, too-soft-to-be-real sensation at his neck and the back of his head, like resting on a soft, delicate block of tofu you never want to leave.
I see.
Kita-san is giving me a lap pillow.
Mm…
…Mm?
Eh.
Me?
A lap pillow?
K-K-K-K-K-Kita-san is giving me a lap pillow?!?!
"Thank goodness… Gotō-san, you're awake… Are you feeling okay? Anywhere feel wrong? Do you want some water? Ah—I also have candy and chocolate. Do you want any?" Kita asked, and as she spoke, she let out a long breath of relief in her heart.
She'd been worried Gotō Doku might not wake up, but it seemed she'd overthought it.
He'd only fainted briefly. After resting a bit, he'd recover.
Which made her feel a tiny bit… disappointed.
If she could, she wanted to keep this position a little longer…
Wait—no, that's not right.
Why is Gotō-san entering a near-death state again?!
"I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm truly so sorry, Kita-san…!!"
Gotō Doku stiffly propped himself up, stiffly stood up, stiffly took a few steps forward, and then—in one smooth instant—switched flawlessly into a full dogeza bow on the ground.
Kita hurriedly pulled him up. "Wait, wait, wait! Why are you suddenly apologizing to me?"
"I-It's just… um… just now… I… um…"
Gotō Doku's language system had completely crashed.
Still, Kita understood what he meant.
"Are you talking about the lap pillow just now?"
Kita blinked, clenched her fists, and flashed a radiant smile. "That's nothing! My friends and I do it all the time. Don't worry about it, Gotō-san. Actually—if we ever get another chance, please please let me keep doing it!!"
Eh.
So lap pillows are that normal?
Gotō Doku looked utterly lost.
In his conservative understanding, a lap pillow was an intimate act reserved for couples—one of those heavyweight, unreachable "poses" he'd never touch in his life.
Even in manga or novels, just seeing it would make him roll around in bed two or three times, then get up and pace a bit before he could keep reading.
But now Kita was saying it was totally casual.
R-Really that casual…?
His worldview shook to its core—but he didn't dare question Kita.
She was a socially authoritative master, an absolute expert in interpersonal skills. If Kita-san said lap pillows were normal, then… then they must be normal.
I'm Kita-san's friend.
Even if I don't really understand… I have to support Kita-san…!
"U-Um, Kita-san…! I'm really sorry for delaying us for so long…! It's my fault for fainting because I got too nervous. Let's keep going to the instrument shop!"
"But… Gotō-san, are you sure your body is okay?" Kita asked anxiously. "It would still be fine if I buy the guitar later. Honestly, it's my fault. I could've just bought one online, but I insisted on going to a physical store…"
"If I hadn't been so selfish, you wouldn't have fainted…"
"…Um… please don't think that way, Kita-san."
Gotō Doku picked up the guitar case beside him, put it on his back, and looked at her as he spoke.
"Kita-san, you're still a student… Even if you've saved up some money, you can't spend without limits. I… I spent all the money I earned from making videos at once, so now I don't really have savings…"
"Ah—what I mean is, guitars are expensive, so if you're buying one, you should definitely buy one you like. Didn't you pick out a lot of guitars you liked yesterday? If you buy online, you'd have to pick one blindly from them. You wouldn't know the tone, and you wouldn't know how it feels…"
Afraid he hadn't explained clearly, Gotō Doku started using his hands too, gesturing in the air as he spoke.
"But if we go to an instrument store, you can try every guitar you like…! Then you'll know which one you like most."
"Practicing with a guitar you like, and practicing with a guitar you don't like… those are completely different experiences."
"One day you'll learn, Kita-san… practicing guitar is really, really boring. Once the novelty wears off, it's nothing but suffering… and that's something nobody can avoid."
Remembering how he used to sit for six hours a day practicing, Gotō Doku gave a small, bitter smile.
"As your guitar teacher, what I can do for you is… to handle every detail as well as I can, and reduce the parts that feel like torture as much as possible."
"So it's really okay. You don't need to worry that I'll find it tiring, or troublesome… This is what I should do for you."
After hearing Gotō Doku's words, Kita blinked a few times.
Then, in an instant, she burst into a glow hotter and more excited than any moment before.
Before Gotō Doku could react, two soft hands—so tender they felt boneless—gripped his palm tightly.
"I understand, Gotō-san!"
"Before, I didn't fully understand how serious you were. Now I completely understand! Gotō-san… you're really thinking seriously about me! You're considering my savings, and you're thinking through everything for me so carefully—It makes me so, so happy!"
"Please don't worry, Gotō-san. From now on, I'll work even harder at practicing guitar. I absolutely, absolutely won't let your feelings for me go to waste! Let's go to the instrument store right now!"
The moment she finished speaking, Kita grabbed Gotō Doku by the wrist and tugged him forward.
With the girl's excitement rising, the two of them ran together along the park path. The wind tousled their hair and blew it behind them as they dashed through the busy, crowded city, leaving their rushing footsteps behind.
At first, Gotō Doku stumbled a bit.
His face went right back to the expression he'd had when he realized he'd been resting on Kita's lap.
But after being dragged along for a while…
He gradually calmed down again.
He lowered his gaze to the small hand tightly gripping his wrist.
Her palm wasn't cold like the novels always described—some "white jade" delicacy so smooth it was hard to imagine.
On the contrary.
Her hand was burning hot.
Like a tiny stove.
Just having his wrist held like that…
He could feel strength continuously flowing into him.
Normally, he should be panting, hands on his knees, wheezing out a desperate "Wait a second!" right about now.
But instead, he kept pace with the girl—running through the park streets, leaving behind their traces in this always-busy city.
Is this what youth feels like?
Gotō Doku stared hazily at the back of Kita Ikuyo as she kept pulling him forward.
Suddenly, he thought—
She was like a kite soaring high in the sky.
And without realizing it…
Even he, chasing after her, had flown up into the heavens.
-------
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